Backing Up and Restoring Data for Windows 2000 Server

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Introduction

This document will explain how to protect your servers and data using Backup.

Backup helps to protect data from accidental loss if your server's hardware or storage media fails. If the original data on your hard disk is accidentally erased or overwritten, or becomes inaccessible because of a hard disk malfunction, you can easily restore the data from the archived copy.

The tasks that are covered in this document are:

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD). The estimated time to complete this task is 5 minutes or longer.

Backing up your file and print servers and then archiving the data. The estimated time to complete this task is 10 minutes. It will take longer if you have a large amount of data you are backing up.

Restoring files from Backup. The estimated time to complete this task is 5 minutes.

Restoring your system files using an Emergency Repair Disk. The estimated time to complete this task is 5 minutes.

When the tasks listed above are performed, your server is better protected from accidental data loss or hardware malfunction.

IMPORTANT: All the step-by-step instructions included in this document were developed by using the Start menu that appears by default when you install your operating system. If you have modified your Start menu, the steps might differ slightly.

Before You Begin

The recommendations in this document are only for file and print servers running Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. The following sections cover the options that you should consider before creating backups of your servers.

Select a Type of Backup Storage

The backup storage can be a hard disk drive or a separate storage device such as a tape drive.

Backing up to a tape is preferable because you can create a backup and store the tape in a different location from the computer. This protects against hard disk failure as well as loss from a fire or other catastrophic event.

If you choose to back up to a hard disk, make sure that it is a hard disk separate from your primary hard disk in case your primary hard disk fails. Backing up to a hard disk drive is convenient, but does not protect against a catastrophic event.

Select a Schedule

It is best to perform backups late at night, on weekends, or whenever the server is not being used. You can back up files that are open or in use; however, Backup may skip over some files that are held open by other processes. It is a good practice to close your applications while Backup is running to minimize the number of files that are not backed up.

You should schedule a weekly normal backup of all of your data, including the System State data for the server. A normal backup will copy all the files you select and mark each file as having been backed up. In addition, we recommend you schedule a weekly differential backup that is run on the days of the week the normal backup is not run. A differential backup copies files that have been created or changed since the last normal backup (the "differences"). It does not mark files as having been backed up so the changed file will also be backed up as part of the next normal backup. A differential backup takes less time than a normal backup. If you are performing a combination of normal and differential backups, restoring data requires that you have the last normal as well as the last differential backup. The system state data for the server includes a collection of system-specific data maintained by the operating system that must be backed up as a unit. It is not a backup of the entire system. The system state data includes the registry, COM+ Class Registration database, system files, boot files, and files under Windows File Protection. Also, you should make sure to backup any encryption keys that you have. For information on encryption keys, see the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/. On the left pane of the Web site, click Windows 2000 Server Distributed Systems Guide, click Part 2 - Distributed Security, and then click Chapter 15 - Encrypting File System.

Backup Permissions

Certain permissions and user rights are required to back up files and folders. As part of scheduling backups, you will be asked for information about who is running the backup. If you are a member of the Administrators or Backup Operators group on the local computer, you can back up any file and folder on the local computer to which the local group applies. If you are a member of the Administrators or Backup Operators group on a domain controller, you can only back up data on the domain controller and cannot backup data on other computers in the domain unless the Built-in Administrators group is added to the Domain Admins group or the Built-in Backup Operators group is added to the local Backup Operators group of a computer joining the domain.

If you are not a member of the Backup Operators group for the domain, and you want to back up files, then you must be the owner of the files and folders that you want to back up, or you must have one or more of the following permissions for the files and folders you want to back up: Read, Read & Execute, Modify, or Full Control.

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk

In addition to regular backups of your data, you should use Backup to create an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) when you first place your server into production and again before and after any major changes to the system such as software and hardware upgrades. An ERD contains a backup of your operating system files and a bootable floppy disk that can be used to start your computer if it will not start normally. Before creating an ERD, make sure that you have a 3.5-inch floppy disk available to make the boot disk.

Another method of repairing your system is to use the Recovery Console. This method is recommended only if you are an advanced user who can use basic commands to identify and locate problem drivers and files. In addition, you will need the password for the built-in administrator account to use the Recovery Console. For more information, see "Checklist: Recovering a system that will not start" on the Microsoft TechNet Web site at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=22449.

Backing Up Your Servers

The following section describes the step-by-step procedures for:

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD)

Backing up your file and print servers

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk

You should use Backup to create an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) when you first place your server into production and again before and after any major changes to the system such as software and hardware upgrades. An ERD is used as a last resort in system recovery, only after you have exhausted other options such as the startup options Safe Mode and Last Known Good Configuration.

Requirements

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of either the Administrators or Backup Operators group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group will be able to perform this procedure.

The tool required to complete this step is Backup. You will also need a blank 1.44 MB floppy disk to create an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

Note: Screenshots in this document reflect a test environment. The domain and server names in your environment might differ slightly from the ones shown in these screenshots.

To create an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD)

Click Start, click Run, type ntbackup, and then click OK.

The Backup Utility will appear. Click Emergency Repair Disk.

When the Emergency Repair Diskette screen appears, follow the directions and insert a 1.44 megabyte (MB) floppy disk into drive A, and then click OK.

Choosing Also back up the registry to the repair directory will save your current registry files to a folder within the systemroot\repair folder. This is useful if you need to recover your system in the event your hard disk has failed.

When the Emergency Repair Diskette screen appears letting you know you can remove the floppy disk, make sure you label the disk with the information given.

Store the floppy disk in a safe place near the computer. This disk can be used along with your installation CD to start and restore the computer.

Note: The repair process relies on information that is saved in the systemroot\repair folder. You must not change or delete this folder.

Backing Up Your File and Print Servers

To protect your servers, you should schedule regular backups of all of the data. We recommend that you schedule a weekly normal backup of all of your data, including the System State data for the server. A normal backup will copy all the files you select and mark each file as having been backed up. In addition, we recommend you schedule a weekly differential backup. A differential backup copies files that have been created or changed since the last normal backup (the "differences").

Requirements

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of either the Administrators or Backup Operators group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group will be able to perform this procedure.

The tool required to complete this step is Backup.

To schedule a weekly normal backup

Click Start, click Run, type ntbackup, and then click OK.

The Backup Utility will appear. Click Backup Wizard, and then click Next to continue.

In the Backup Wizard, on the What to Back Up page, click Back up selected files, drives, or network data, and then click Next.

To include all data on your computer in the scheduled backup, click Backup everything on my computer.

On the Items to Back Up page, click the items to expand their contents. Select the System State check box and select other check boxes for any drives or folders that contain data that should be backed up on a regular basis, and then click Next.

On the Where to Store the Backup page, click the drop-down menu or click Browse to choose a location to save your backup. In Backup media or file name, type a descriptive name for the backup, and then click Next.

On the Completing the Backup Wizard page, click Advanced.

On the Type of Backup page, in the drop-down menu, click Normal, and then click Next.

On the How to Back Up page, select the Verify data after backup check box, and then click Next.

On the Media Options page, ensure the Append this backup to the media option is selected, and then click Next.

On the Backup Label page, accept the default label shown or type a different label, and then click Next to continue.

On the When to Back Up page, click Later to schedule the backup for a later time.

In the Set Account Information dialog box, in Run as, type the domain or workgroup and user name of the account that is authorized to perform backup and restore operations. Use the format domain\username or workgroup\username. In Password, type the password for the user account. Retype the password in Confirm password, and then click OK.

You need to update the password specified in the scheduled task anytime the account's password changes or expires to ensure the backup job runs as scheduled.

In Schedule entry, type a descriptive name in Job name, and then click Set Schedule.

In the Schedule Job dialog box, in Schedule Task, click Weekly in the drop-down menu.

In Start time, use the up and down arrows to select the appropriate time for the backup to start. Click Advanced to specify a start date and an end date for the scheduled task or to specify whether the scheduled task runs repeatedly at a particular interval.

In Schedule Task Weekly, select one or more days when you would like to have a backup created, and then click OK.

On the When to Back Up page, click Next.

On the Completing the Backup Wizard page, confirm the settings, and then click Finish.

Notes: We recommend creating a summary backup log which, when regularly reviewed, will help ensure that the backup was successfully completed. To do this, click the Tools menu, and then click Options. On the Backup Log tab, select Summary.
If it's determined that the backup is not occurring, review the status of the scheduled task for possible reasons. To review scheduled tasks, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Scheduled Tasks.

To schedule a weekly differential backup

Click Start, click Run, type ntbackup, and then click OK.

The Backup Utility will appear. Click Backup Wizard, and then click Next to continue.

In the Backup Wizard, on the What to Back Up page, click Back up selected files, drives, or network data, and then click Next.

On the Items to Back Up page, click the items to expand their contents. Select the System State check box and select other check boxes for any drives or folders that contain data that should be backed up on a regular basis, and then click Next.

On the Where to Store the Backup page, click the drop-down menu or click Browse to choose a location to save your backup. In Backup media or file name, type a descriptive name for the backup, and then click Next.

On the Completing the Backup Wizard page, click Advanced.

On the Type of Backup page, in Select the type of backup, click Differential, and then click Next.

On the How to Back Up page, select the Verify data after backup check box, and then click Next.

On the Media Options page, ensure the Append this backup to the media option is selected, and then click Next.

On the Backup Label page, accept the default label shown or type a different label, and then click Next to continue.

On the When to Back Up page, click Later to schedule the backup for a later time.

In the Set Account Information dialog box, in Run as, type the domain or workgroup and user name of the account which is authorized to perform backup and restore operations. Use the format domain\username or workgroup\username. In Password, type the password for the user account. Retype the password in Confirm password, and then click OK.

You need to update the password specified in the scheduled task anytime the account's password changes or expires to ensure the backup job runs as scheduled.

In Schedule entry, type a descriptive name in Job name, and then click Set Schedule.

In the Schedule Job dialog box, in Schedule Task, click Weekly in the drop-down menu.

In Start time, use the up and down arrows to select the appropriate time for the backup to start, and then, in Schedule Task Weekly, select the days you want the differential backup to run each week. It is recommended that you schedule a differential backup on the days that a normal backup is not run. Click Advanced to specify a start date and an end date for the scheduled task or to specify whether the scheduled task runs repeatedly at a particular interval. Click OK when finished.

On the When to Back Up page, click Next.

On the Completing the Backup Wizard page, confirm your settings, and then click Finish.

Notes: We recommend creating a summary backup log which, when regularly reviewed, will ensure that the backup was successfully completed. To do this, click the Tools menu, and then click Options. On the Backup Log tab, select Summary.
If it's determined that the backup is not occurring, review the status of the scheduled task for possible reasons. To review scheduled tasks, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Scheduled Tasks.

Verifying Data After Backup Is Complete

You can compare the backed-up data and the original data on your hard disk to be sure that the data is the same. It is recommended that you only verify backups of data files; system backups are difficult to verify due to the large number of changes that happen to system files on a continual basis. Some data files that were in use during the backup might also cause verification errors, but you can generally ignore these errors. If there are a large number of verification errors, there may be a problem with the media or the file you are using to back up data. If this occurs, use different media or designate another file and run the backup operation again.

To verify data after backup, in the Backup Utility, on the How to Back Up page, select the Verify data after backup check box.

Note: Selecting this option might substantially increase the time it takes to perform a backup.

Restoring Data from Backup

There are several ways to restore your server depending on what files need to be restored and whether your system will start normally. The following procedures are covered in this section:

Restoring files from Backup

Restoring your system files using an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD)

Restoring Files from Backup

If the original data on your hard disk is accidentally erased or overwritten, or becomes inaccessible because of a hard disk malfunction, the data may be restored from the back up copy.

Requirements

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of either the Administrators or Backup Operators group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group will be able to perform this procedure.

The tool required to complete this step is Backup. If you are performing a combination of normal and differential backups, restoring files and folders requires that you have the last normal as well as the last differential backup.

To restore files from backup

Click Start, click Run, type ntbackup, and then click OK.

The Backup Utility will appear. Click Restore Wizard, and then click Next.

On the What toRestore page, select the files and folders you want to restore, and then click Next.

On the Completing the Restore Wizard page, click Advanced.

On the Where to Restore page, in the Restore files to dropdown list, do one of the following:

Click Original location if you want the backed up files and folders to be restored to the folder or folders they were in when they were backed up.

Click Alternate location if you want the backed up files and folders to be restored to a location you designate. This option will preserve the folder structure of the backed up data; all folders and subfolders will appear in the alternate folder you designate.

Click Single folder if you want the backed up files and folders to be restored to a location you designate. This option will not preserve the folder structure of the backed up data; the files will appear only in the alternate folder you designate.

If you select Alternate location or Single folder, type a path for the folder under Alternate location, or click Browse to search for the folder. Click Next to continue.

On the How to Restore page, do one of the following:

Click Do not replace the file on my computer if you do not want the restore operation to copy over files that are already on your hard disk.

Click Replace the file on disk only if the file on disk is older if you want the restore operation to replace older files on your disk with newer files from your backup.

Click Always replace the file on my computer if you want the restore operation to replace files on your disk regardless of whether the backup files are newer or older.

Click Next to continue.

On the Advanced Restore Options page, you have the option to change any of the special restore options, such as restoring security settings, the Removable Storage database, and junction point data.

Click Restore security if you want to restore the security settings for the files and folders you are restoring. Security settings include access permissions, audit entries, and ownership. This option is available only if you have backed up data from an NTFS volume used in Windows 2000 and you are restoring it to an NTFS volume used in Windows 2000.

Click Restore Removable Storage database if you want to restore the Removable Storage database, which is located in systemroot\system32\ntmsdata. The Removable Storage database is automatically backed up whenever you back up your systemroot folder. If you do not use Removable Storage to manage media, you do not need to choose this option. This will erase the existing Removable Storage database in your systemroot folder.

Click Restore junction points, not the folders and file data they reference if you want to restore junction points on your hard disk as well as the data that the junction points point to. If you do not select this check box, the junction points will be restored but the data your junction points point to may not be accessible.

If you have used the linkd command to create junction points, and you want to restore the junction points and the data to which the junction points point, you must select this check box. Also, if you are restoring a mounted drive, and you want to restore the data that is on the mounted drive, you must select this check box. If you do not select this check box, you will only restore the folder containing the mounted drive.

Click Next to continue.

On the Completing the Restore Wizard page, verify the settings and click Finish.

Restoring your System Files using an Emergency Repair Disk

Requirements

The tools required to complete this step are your previously created Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) and the original Windows 2000 Server installation CD.

To use an Emergency Repair Disk for system repairs

Insert the Windows 2000 Setup compact disc (CD), or the first floppy disk you created from the CD, in the appropriate drive:

For systems that cannot start (boot) from the CD drive, you must use a floppy disk.

For systems that can start (boot) from the CD drive, you can use either the CD or a floppy disk.

Restart the computer, and if using floppy disks, respond to the prompts that request each floppy disk in turn.

When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts; choose the repair or recover option by pressing R.

When prompted, insert the Windows 2000 Setup CD in the appropriate drive.

When prompted, choose the emergency repair process by pressing R.

When prompted, choose between the following:

Manual Repair (press M): This should be used only by advanced users or administrators. Use this option to choose whether you want to repair system files, partition-boot sector problems, or startup environment problems.

Fast Repair (press F): This is the easiest option, and does not require input. This option will attempt to repair problems related to system files, the partition boot sector on your system disk, and your startup environment (if you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot system).

Follow the instructions on the screen and, when prompted, insert the Emergency Repair Disk in the appropriate drive.

During the repair process, missing or corrupted files are replaced with files from the Windows 2000 CD or from the *systemroot\*Repair folder on the system partition. Replacement files from either of these sources will not reflect any configuration changes made after setup.

Follow the instructions on the screen; you might want to write down the names of files that are detected as faulty or incorrect, to help you diagnose how the system was damaged.

If the repair was successful, allow the process to complete; it will restart the computer.

When the computer restarts, it indicates that the replacement files were successfully copied to the hard disk.

Note: Because of the potential impact on data that has been backed up, the emergency repair process is recommended for use only by advanced users or administrators.

Related Information

For more information about backing up and restoring data, see the following: